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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

GIVING a thumbs up to his achievement as the CMD of state-run telecom company, Anupam Shrivastava has been given the charge of BSNL for another four years.
"Anupam Shrivastava is confirmed as Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for the balance period of his tenure after expiry of the first year on January 15, 2016," a BSNL order dated March 16 said.
Shrivastava, last year, was appointed CMD of BSNL for a period of five years or till the time of... superannuation age of 60 years. But there was a condition that his confirmation as CMD would be taken up after review of his performance at the end of his first year of tenure.
While confirming the development, Shrivastava told a news agency that "this is very crucial and turnaround time for BSNL".
"I am thankful to government for reposing trust on me for this task. The year is crucial for BSNL as next year pay revision of PSUs is due for which all employees are working together to achieve growth at BSNL," he was quoted as telling PTI.
During Shrivastava's tenure, BSNL reported an operating profit of Rs 672 crore for 2014-15, aided by a fall in administrative costs and jump in revenue. It had posted an operating loss of Rs 691 crore in 2013-14, though in 2012-13 it declared an operating profit of Rs 916 crore.
BSNL's income from services grew by 4.16 per cent in 2014-15 compared to the previous fiscal.
The average monthly gross mobile connections rose to 15 lakh currently from 8 lakh in July 2015.
Also, BSNL gained customers from mobile number portability (MNP) service under Shrivastava's tenure. BSNL was MNP positive in the months of July, August and September 2015 and in January 2016. It also gained customers from mobile number portability (MNP) service under Shrivastava's tenure.
"All employees have to work together so that we achieve pay revision target. For example, there are PSUs who failed to achieve pay revision earlier and their top brass are working at pay scale of Rs 25,000 while BSNL board members enjoy pay scale of Rs 75,000," Shrivastava said.
The last pay scale revision happened in 2007.
BSNL has increased mobile network capacity under Phase-7 of its expansion plan and is setting up wifi hotspots on revenue sharing basis. The company has further started phase 7 plus under which it expects to install 21,000 mobile towers with an investment of Rs 2100 crore.
The government has been time and again trying to provide fresh lease of life to ailing BSNL as well as MTNL. The department of telecommunications (DoT) is reportedly mulling setting up a holding company, with state-run telecom companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) as its subsidiaries. The move will go a long way to synergize their operations.